me and try it, Ben, dear?"

"I'd do any thing to please you," muttered Ben, without looking up; for,
though he felt her kindness to the bottom of his heart, he did wish that
no one would talk about father for a little while; it was so hard to
keep from crying, and he hated to be a baby.

Miss Celia seemed to understand, for the next thing she said, in a very
cheerful tone, was, "See what a pretty sight that is. When I was a
little girl I used to think spiders spun cloth for the fairies, and
spread it on the grass to bleach."

Ben stopped digging a hole in the ground with his toe, and looked up, to
see a lovely cobweb like a wheel, circle within circle, spun across a
corner of the arch over the gate. Tiny drops glittered on every thread
as the light shone through the gossamer curtain, and a soft breath of
air made it tremble as if about to blow it away.

"It's mighty pretty, but it will fly off, just as the others did. I
never saw such a chap as that spider is. He keeps on spinning a new one
every day, for they always get broke, and he don't seem to be
discouraged a mite," said Ben, glad to change the subject, as she knew
he would be.

"That is the way he gets his living, he spins his web and waits for his
daily bread,--or fly, rather; and it always comes, I fancy. By-and-by
you will see that pretty trap full of insects, and Mr. Spider will lay
up his provisions for the day. After that he doesn't care how soon his
fine web blows away."

"I know him; he's a handsome feller, all black and yellow, and lives up
in that corner where the shiny sort of hole is. He dives down the minute
I touch the gate, but comes up after I've kept still a minute. I like to
watch him. But he must hate me, for I took away a nice green fly and
some little millers one day."

"Did you ever hear the story of Bruce and his spider? Most children know
and like that," said Miss Celia, seeing that he seemed interested.

"No, 'm; I don't know ever so many things most children do," answered
Ben, soberly; for, since he had been among his new friends, he had often
felt his own deficiencies.

"Ah, but you also know many things which they do not. Half the boys in
town would give a great deal to be able to ride and run and leap as you
do; and even the oldest are not as capable of taking care of themselves
as you are. Your active life has done much in some ways to make a man of
you; but in other ways it was bad, as I think you begin to see. Now,
supp